I knew she was calling at 7:00 am.

Naturally, when my alarm went off at 6:45am, like a bear just being woken up while in hibernation, I growled at the clock and switched it off. My first thought was "dear alarm, please die."

This was followed by my brilliant half-asleep brain rationalizing "I'm good, I have 15 min before she calls and don't even have to get up until then."

My second alarm went off, more obnoxious than the first. It was a loud car alarm-styled noise, with honks and loud clashes included.

"Stop extending the length of time and pain you have in getting up. GET UP! 30 push-ups!"

Rolling over and in a brief, but defiant struggle, I threw my blanket to the side.

My self-talk got me out of bed and onto the floor. I started doing push-ups, counting up one by one.

Around push-up #15, I felt extremely weak and started thinking I've gotten old.

Around push-up #26, I was focused on finishing with proper form,

I was up.

Hitting the usual bathroom routine, I even had time to cut my nails before 7:00am.

RING RING!

(Actually, my ringtone is Kid Cudi - Day N Nite)

"Good morning!!!" came the light-hearted voice on the other end.

Leticia and I were ready for the day, both cheerful and pumped.

Three days earlier, we were talking about how scared we were about the fact that the summer was coming. We decided together to keep each other accountable, calling the other person on alternating days at 7:00am sharp to do three things:
1. Verbally go through our sales talk once (20 minutes)
2. Get up earlier to study for finals
3. Get into the habit of waking up earlier and earlier as the summer approached, but starting with a decent time (vs. going at it 6:00am for the next month)

By being accountable to somebody else, I knew I didn't have a choice in getting up, I had to do it.

We all know that once we're up for a while, we are awake. This has helped me so much in getting up!

In addition, I also feel more prepared for the upcoming summer, even though in the midst of exams, I'm spending 20 minutes to read over my sales talk once.

When finals are over, I'm kicking it into even higher gear with memorization, but for now - remember: baby steps are still moving you forward. 

Jay Kiew –27 for '12

(mp3 download LINK)

[Verse 1 ]
Here we are, Summer 2012 is a go,
And there's nothing stopping us from working it out as we hoped,
Because every day, like Tommy, We’re hittin’ em numbers gunnin’
And may I say, ladies and gentlemen, you look stunning
Mister McDermott asserted that we’d earn it if we served it
well on a platter, we deserve it,
if we hungry enough to never dessert (desert) it,
Courage with purpose, dedicated and work it – UGH, ugh ugh
We see Arash is scribbling GROWTH up on the car dash,
I always saw that bookman be running far
How could we get blue lights, when Ronnie is the Law
and yeah we do it right, so now we want it all (DIR)
Mostofi's, mostly, swaggin' it with families
Marta’s droppin' bags before she goes for groceries
So please before you give up on anything,
I hope you remember this melody.  

[Verse 2]
I hop out my car, I gotta lotta books,
Mommas love me and it's not just cause of my good looks
El say "you want some?" They're sayin’ "Ask me!"
Desi explores and learns, how to catch me!
And we “much in “D-mand”, channel 23,
And we the top ten, consisten-cy
Julien, JuJu's in, Sarah’s back to win,
like Emily, all they do is Lin, Lin, Lin
Lin, Lin, no matter what
TLee like a library, she books it til  it's dark
Joke, just for fun, I’ma rhyme Boonyaleephun,
We got Joy like Kong, we crazy caught it
Anna CANADA Hoang, patriotic, fought to be on it,
And when it's closing time, they say I'm SemiSonic
You know we finish strong, man, we already done it, we
Simply fall back on this melody

[Verse 3]
We watched our whole life change, in a couple of years
Who woulda ever thought we woulda caught the world by the ears
It’s like, people only see it, the way it appears
But they never see the ropes and the pulleys and the gears, (ha)
Since results don't Ly, we know that Jenny's fly,
Action Jackson sayin'  Chao-ZI, how's my s’mile?, ‘hi’gh’,  (mile high)
Pena prancin’ a lot, made Addy dance,  BAP, Pecarsky’s like, ‘man, hot’
Munoz is musing over how that ever ‘Tran’-sitioned, Liz is in, (vreeh) tran’s-mission,
With JQ times 2, KKu's like Kay cool,
man, we ready to do it up,
I live and die for my team, these guys are more than my homies
We put it all on the line, we gave up all our belongings for this
Cause at the end of the day, it ain't just for us
Call it Making a way, yeah, hit the chorus